Postmodernism
1945-present
Introduction:
As implied by its name, the Postmodernist period occurred directly after the Modernist period. Events that inspired this movement were the end of World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam War, the Cold War, and the Civil Rights movement. Postmodernism works were characterized by multiple qualities. These contemporary works often featured ordinary places and portray a release from meaning, a desire to correct the past, and a desire to enjoy oneself.
With the end of World War II and the discovery of the holocaust and the atomic bomb, American society began to see reality as subjective. New types of art displayed this new mindset as well as the literature of the time period did. There was also a strong desire to correct the past and right the wrongs that occurred during both of the World Wars.
With advances in technology and rights, Americans could better define who they were. Americans now saw themselves as a major world power because of their atomic bombs. Women and African Americans also began developing a voice and identity distinct in American culture. With people like Martin Luther King and Malcolm X leading the Civil Rights Movement, the African American identity started becoming recognized by society. Because not everyone supported this, racism also became another important theme of the Contemporary era.
These events influenced the writings of this era that display the diversity, materialism, and pride seen throughout America. Authors began to describe everyday life and new technology. Postmodernism focused on the present and the future. It was and is an ongoing, evolving period of American literature.
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As implied by its name, the Postmodernist period occurred directly after the Modernist period. Events that inspired this movement were the end of World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam War, the Cold War, and the Civil Rights movement. Postmodernism works were characterized by multiple qualities. These contemporary works often featured ordinary places and portray a release from meaning, a desire to correct the past, and a desire to enjoy oneself.
With the end of World War II and the discovery of the holocaust and the atomic bomb, American society began to see reality as subjective. New types of art displayed this new mindset as well as the literature of the time period did. There was also a strong desire to correct the past and right the wrongs that occurred during both of the World Wars.
With advances in technology and rights, Americans could better define who they were. Americans now saw themselves as a major world power because of their atomic bombs. Women and African Americans also began developing a voice and identity distinct in American culture. With people like Martin Luther King and Malcolm X leading the Civil Rights Movement, the African American identity started becoming recognized by society. Because not everyone supported this, racism also became another important theme of the Contemporary era.
These events influenced the writings of this era that display the diversity, materialism, and pride seen throughout America. Authors began to describe everyday life and new technology. Postmodernism focused on the present and the future. It was and is an ongoing, evolving period of American literature.
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Harper Lee:
"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view."
-Harper Lee
Nelle Harper Lee was born in 1926 as the youngest of five children to Amasa Lee and Frances Finch in Monroeville, Alabama. Her father practiced law in the Alabama State Legislature and also owned part of a local newspaper. Her mother was a homemaker. As a young child, she loved to read and was also a tomboy. One of her best childhood friends was the famous author Truman Capote, who was the author of In Cold Blood.
While Lee attended high school, she developed a love for literature. She graduated from high school in 1944 and then attended an all women's college. She stood out because she did not care about fashion, makeup, or dating and only focused on her writing. Twelve years later, she received a Christmas present from a writer and composer, Michael Brown, that was a year's worth of wages so that she could spend a year only focusing on writing. She collaborated with editor Tay Hohoff, and produced her only novel to date. It was first titled Go Set a Watchman, then Atticus, and then To Kill A Mockingbird. To Kill A Mockingbird was published in 1960, and became an immediate bestseller. It won much positive critical acclaim and a Pulitzer Prize in 1961. In 1999, it was voted best novel of the century. This book was a coming of age story, but it also reflected many racial prejudices of the south.
After the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee accompanied her friend Capote to Kansas, where the two of them worked to gather information for an article that Capote was writing for The New Yorker. This article evolved into Capote’s most famous novel, In Cold Blood. After returning home, Lee became somewhat of a recluse and participated in very few interviews or public appearances. She attempted to work on two more novels, but left them unfinished because she was dissatisfied with them. To this day, she has no further publications except for a few essays because the success of her novel and the fame that followed it were too much for Lee.
Despite her desires to avoid the it, Lee often found herself in the limelight. She became good friends with Gregory Peck, the actor who portrayed Atticus Finch in the screenplay adaptation of To Kill A Mockingbird, and won an Oscar for his performance. She often visited the set and did interviews to support the film. Also, president Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Lee to the National Council of Arts in 1966. She accepted many honorary degrees, but still refused to make speeches.
In 2007, President George W. Bush awarded Lee the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the U.S. Today, Harper Lee lives in an assisted-living home, wheel-chair bound, partially blind and deaf and as a victim to mild memory loss. Lee has agreed to release a novel that she completed in the 1950s and set aside called “Go Set a Watchman” to be released in July 14, 2015.
"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view."
-Harper Lee
Nelle Harper Lee was born in 1926 as the youngest of five children to Amasa Lee and Frances Finch in Monroeville, Alabama. Her father practiced law in the Alabama State Legislature and also owned part of a local newspaper. Her mother was a homemaker. As a young child, she loved to read and was also a tomboy. One of her best childhood friends was the famous author Truman Capote, who was the author of In Cold Blood.
While Lee attended high school, she developed a love for literature. She graduated from high school in 1944 and then attended an all women's college. She stood out because she did not care about fashion, makeup, or dating and only focused on her writing. Twelve years later, she received a Christmas present from a writer and composer, Michael Brown, that was a year's worth of wages so that she could spend a year only focusing on writing. She collaborated with editor Tay Hohoff, and produced her only novel to date. It was first titled Go Set a Watchman, then Atticus, and then To Kill A Mockingbird. To Kill A Mockingbird was published in 1960, and became an immediate bestseller. It won much positive critical acclaim and a Pulitzer Prize in 1961. In 1999, it was voted best novel of the century. This book was a coming of age story, but it also reflected many racial prejudices of the south.
After the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee accompanied her friend Capote to Kansas, where the two of them worked to gather information for an article that Capote was writing for The New Yorker. This article evolved into Capote’s most famous novel, In Cold Blood. After returning home, Lee became somewhat of a recluse and participated in very few interviews or public appearances. She attempted to work on two more novels, but left them unfinished because she was dissatisfied with them. To this day, she has no further publications except for a few essays because the success of her novel and the fame that followed it were too much for Lee.
Despite her desires to avoid the it, Lee often found herself in the limelight. She became good friends with Gregory Peck, the actor who portrayed Atticus Finch in the screenplay adaptation of To Kill A Mockingbird, and won an Oscar for his performance. She often visited the set and did interviews to support the film. Also, president Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Lee to the National Council of Arts in 1966. She accepted many honorary degrees, but still refused to make speeches.
In 2007, President George W. Bush awarded Lee the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the U.S. Today, Harper Lee lives in an assisted-living home, wheel-chair bound, partially blind and deaf and as a victim to mild memory loss. Lee has agreed to release a novel that she completed in the 1950s and set aside called “Go Set a Watchman” to be released in July 14, 2015.
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Literary Themes:
The Postmodernist period focuses on several themes that are evident in the works of the time period. The themes of identity, racism, and a search for goodness in humanity are the main themes of this time period. Identity is a theme commonly found in many African American works as they began to write about their culture and heritage. The theme of identity can also be seen in the women’s civil rights movement of the time where women fought for their place in society. From the Civil Rights Movement also comes the theme of Racism. It is shown in To Kill A Mockingbird.
The title of “Postmodernism” fits well within this era because it depicts how people reacted to the events of the modern era. During the modern era, two major World Wars and The Great Depression left many Americans looking for hope in society. The holocaust and the atomic bombs left Americans searching for hope in humanity. Authors tried to reflect society and humanity in a way that showed that there was still some goodness left in it.
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Literary Themes:
The Postmodernist period focuses on several themes that are evident in the works of the time period. The themes of identity, racism, and a search for goodness in humanity are the main themes of this time period. Identity is a theme commonly found in many African American works as they began to write about their culture and heritage. The theme of identity can also be seen in the women’s civil rights movement of the time where women fought for their place in society. From the Civil Rights Movement also comes the theme of Racism. It is shown in To Kill A Mockingbird.
The title of “Postmodernism” fits well within this era because it depicts how people reacted to the events of the modern era. During the modern era, two major World Wars and The Great Depression left many Americans looking for hope in society. The holocaust and the atomic bombs left Americans searching for hope in humanity. Authors tried to reflect society and humanity in a way that showed that there was still some goodness left in it.
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Key Authors:
- John Hershey: Author of Hiroshima, The Wall, A Single Pebble, The War Lover, and Fling and Other Stories
- Lawrence Ferlinghetti: Author of "Constantly Risking Absurdity," City Lights, Howl and Other Poems, and A Coney Island of the Mind
- Theodore Roethke: Author of "Cuttings," Open House, The Waking, The Far Field, The Lost Son, and Words for the Wind
- Robert Hayden: Author of "Frederick Douglass," and A Ballad of Remembrance
- James Baldwin: Author of "The Rockpile," and Go Tell It on the Mountain
- John Fitzgerald Kennedy: Author of his Inaugural Address
- Martin Luther King Jr.: Author of "Letter from Birmingham City Jail"
- Arthur Miller: Author of All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, and The Last Yankee
- Julia Alvarez: Author of "Antojos," Homecoming, The Other Side, The Woman I Kept to Myself, and In the Time of the Butterflies
- Harper Lee: Author of To Kill A Mockingbird
- Ian Frazier: Author of "Coyote v. Acme," Dating Your Mom, Family, On the Rez, and The Fish's Eye
- Anna Quindlen: Author of "One Day, Now Broken in Two," Object Lessons, Black and Blue, One True Thing, and Blessings
- Rita Dove: Author of "For the Love of Books," Thomas and Beulah, On the Bus with Rosa Parks, and American Smooth
Culture:
Art from the time period
Art from the time period